The Drunken Master Monk is what kicks off our Xanthar’s Guide to Everything Monk coverage. It remains largely unchanged from the Unearthed Arcana version, which is good, I guess? The class is strong, and does a few things very well, but my personal opinion is it’s just kinda…meh. I make some suggestions in the video of how I think it could be fixed, what do you guys think?

Ted is the founder and owner of Nerd Immersion. He got his start in Guild Wars 2 with Chroniclesoftyria.com quickly rising through the ranks. Wanting to expand the topics he could cover, he formed Nerd Immersion, giving him a place to chronicle all his nerdy endeavors.

2 Comments

I just wanted to give you heads up so you know. A drunken master not needing to be drunk to do his style is actually based of the real martial art. The common image shown in the movies is not true to the style’s real purpose. I know and teach this style in real life. Using this styles method is a way of acting and a technique approach that doesn’t require drunkenness. They did their research. Your idea of improvised weapons was brilliant! That would have been a perfect skill for drunken style. Your criticisms were spot on. Love the video.

My perception of drunken style kung fu is limited to just what I know from the movies, but it’s good to see that WotC did their research. I’m also glad to hear that you approve of my adjustments and criticisms. I really want to love this subclass, especially with the fun I had with a Drunken Master back in 3.5e, but it’s unfortunately…kinda boring. Like I said, it’s not bad by any means, and it’s abilities are pretty much “always on”, and it’s a big improvement over say the Way of the Four Elements, but I just wanted it to be more. At my table, anyone who decides to play a drunken master gets improvised weapons as monk weapons!